It would be easy to accuse Activision of merely rehashing
concepts that were pioneered by other companies. But that
wouldn't be fair from the historic third-party publisher, because
they greatly expanded upon the gameplay of many games that they
were derived from. Starmaster is obviously a Star Raiders
knock-off, but it's very nicely done. Those who are able to
get deeply into the role-playing-type action of similar space-fantasy
games will find this one as engrossing as the others. Those who
want predictable play patterns and absorbing visuals will turn
to other games.

The complexity of Starmaster is essentially in the storyline.
Stated as simply as possible, the player must attempt to prove
flight skills by daring a number of missions. Each one or set
of missions completed earns the player an advance in rank from
the lowly Ensign to the supreme Star Master.

The screen changes from one representation of space vastness to
a display of the ship's Galactic Chart, to a map of the area in
space where the starbase is located. The player is responsible
for using all the information as it becomes necessary, and must
switch back and forth at appropriate times. Consequences of not
knowing what you are doing are disastrous and make this a very
short game.

Included in the tactics of the game are traveling in Warp speeds,
docking with a starbase for refueling and repairs during the
course of a mission, and locating and destroying enemy spacecraft.
If laser cannons have been destroyed, the player is helpless
to fire at either enemy aircraft or random meteors. Protective
energy shields around the spacecraft can also be destroyed, leaving
it open to attack from several areas. Warp engines can be
damaged, increasing energy usage while decreasing speed of travel,
and radar can be wiped out, leaving the player without any visual
cues as to location of enemy ships. All damages are indicated
by the sound of an explosion.

Everything has meaning for the person trying to attain higher
rank, even the color of a particular explosion. Nothing is
too far-fetched. There is much in this game to offer the
video enthusiast, especially one who thrills to complete
involvement in a game role. The attempt has been made to encourage
player immersion in the story. the result is that such
immersion is very nearly essential to any real enjoyment of game
play.

Overall, my pick among Star Raiders and its clones still (and
probably always will be) Star Raiders on the Atari 8-bit computers.
For the VCS, however, Starmaster surpasses Atari's effort with
fancier graphics and a few frills not found in VCS Star Raiders.
It's not a reflex game in the slightest, but take some time to
learn how to play Starmaster, because the beauty of this game
is definitely more than skin deep.